Qi Lingshan was startled by what he heard and asked, "Are you asking me to go undercover? Are you kidding me?"
Lin Yue put his arm around Qi Lingshan's shoulder and whispered, "Otherwise, I wouldn't have saved you! When you resisted outside the city, you were seen by many people from Yuzhou. Now, you must be considered one of them by the people below, and it's inconvenient for me to appear. So, the task of gathering information falls to you!"
Qi Lingshan quickly shook his head and refused, "I can't, I can't! My acting skills are terrible, and I'll be exposed easily."
Lin Yue sighed and asked, "Really can't?"
Qi Lingshan said righteously, "Really can't. The main reason is that I'm naturally bad at lying, and I can't change it!"
Lin Yue shook his head helplessly, grabbed Qi Lingshan's shoulder, and started walking back, saying as he walked, "Since you can't help me, then forget it."
Qi Lingshan stopped and asked, "Where are we going?"
Lin Yue said indifferently, "Of course, back to prison. Where else would we go?"
Upon hearing this, Qi Lingshan immediately sat on the ground and refused to move, saying with a wry smile, "Lin Yue, my good brother, don't be so heartless. I don't want to go back. Please, do me a favor and let me go. I'll do something else, okay?"
Qi Lingshan was not stupid. He knew how dangerous a mission like going undercover was, which was why he refused at that moment. He didn't want to die without understanding why.
Lin Yue didn't say anything, grabbed one of Qi Lingshan's legs, and dragged him towards the prison, seemingly unmoved.
Qi Lingshan had no choice but to relent and said, "Alright, I'll be a mole, okay? Don't take me back. I'm scared of you!"
Lin Yue released Qi Lingshan's leg, and Qi Lingshan slowly got up from the ground, his face full of bitterness. "If my acting is bad and I get caught, you must come and save me, or I'll be truly finished!"
Lin Yue nodded and said seriously, "Don't worry, I won't send you to your death. You just need to deliver messages on time every day. As long as you complete the mission, I will request the City Lord's Mansion to give you an evolution potion as well."
Qi Lingshan felt like he had already boarded a pirate ship. He never expected that his usually earnest and bookish classmate would learn to play dirty tricks. It seemed that with the advent of the apocalypse, everyone's personality had changed.
Now, everyone believed that the apocalypse had arrived because the appearance of zombies had disrupted the order of human society. Even primitive tribes considered it the end times, and a sorrowful atmosphere pervaded all regions of the globe.
However, Shen Feng's side was relatively optimistic. While zombies posed a serious crisis to humanity, this was based on their numbers. If one compared the gap between humans and zombies, it would be evident that zombies were practically the product of failed evolution. Ordinary zombies lacked even intelligence, and only mutated zombies possessed some thinking ability. It was clear that humanity's greatest advantage was its intelligence, a trait zombies completely lacked.
Five days after Shen Feng returned to Jiangyang, three months had passed since the apocalypse began. Humanity had been continuously reclaiming cities and territories occupied by zombies. Shen Feng speculated that within ten years, humanity's main targets would likely be zombies, and perhaps mutated beasts and plants as well.
After signing documents in his office, Shen Feng began to look for novels to read. Since he had nothing else to do, he might as well entertain himself.
In fact, Shen Feng had planned to watch anime in his office, but being seen doing so would have a bad impression. Therefore, Shen Feng could only read novels, using a folder to shield the book. This way, in the eyes of others, he was diligently reviewing documents.
However, Shen Feng's little trick was impossible to hide from the surrounding secretaries, as it was too peculiar.
The secretaries watched as Shen Feng held the folder upright and kept reading, a strange smile appearing on his face. The folder hadn't moved for a long time, indicating that the City Lord was clearly not reading documents.
"In my opinion, the City Lord is currently reading 'Liu Bei literature,' hence the perverted smile on his face." The secretaries dared not speak or discuss, but they communicated on paper.
Another person also wrote down their thoughts: "I don't think so. Novels nowadays can't contain suggestive content, let alone be printed. So, I think the City Lord is looking at photos."
"Regardless, the City Lord is definitely not looking at anything proper." The others also discussed on paper.
However, at this moment, Professor Chu Yangtian entered, leaning on his cane. The secretaries quickly lowered their heads and pretended to be diligently working.
Upon seeing Professor Chu, Shen Feng quickly went to greet him, "Professor, you're here? Please, sit down. Someone, bring some tea!"
Chu Yangtian coughed and said, "I won't sit. Come with me. I have something I want to discuss with you privately. Also, you can call Chang Jianyi."
Shen Feng quickly put away his novel and said seriously, "Okay, I'll go get her right away."
Chang Jianyi's office was next to Shen Feng's. Under normal circumstances, after Shen Feng processed documents, Chang Jianyi would review them again to ensure there were no issues before execution. She was very concerned about Shen Feng's reliability in handling documents, so she insisted on handling everything personally.
Shen Feng went next door to fetch Chang Jianyi, and the two followed Chu Yangtian to a secret room in the City Lord's Mansion.
Chu Yangtian slowly sat down and looked sternly at Shen Feng and Chang Jianyi, asking, "The situation in Jiangyang is turbulent. How do you plan to handle it? The conflict between locals and outsiders is irreconcilable, and your ruling foundation is the locals. However, the number of outsiders is very large. I want to know what you are thinking."
Neither Shen Feng nor Chang Jianyi had expected Chu Yangtian to bring up such a thorny issue. They exchanged glances, then said helplessly, "We have no solution. We can only delay it. At this point, we can't possibly drive all the outsiders away, can we?"
Seeing their attitude, Chu Yangtian couldn't help but shake his head slightly, "No, delaying will only make the problem worse. If the problem can be solved now, solve it quickly. If it erupts later, it will lead to greater trouble. I don't need to elaborate on this."
Shen Feng quickly asked, "Then what should I do? Headquarters has also been playing dead. I can't send all the people in the city back to Yuzhou, can I? There are only so many jobs in Jiangyang, and they can't accommodate more people!"
Chu Yangtian coughed a couple of times, his breathing becoming labored. After recovering, he said with difficulty, "To stabilize the situation, we must eliminate the factors of unrest. We only have one option now, and that is to retake Yuzhou! Indeed, the situation of too many people and too few resources is difficult to solve, so we must expand our territory."
Shen Feng poured Chu Yangtian a cup of water and said helplessly, "No, headquarters will not agree to our actions. It's already a big favor that they let us retake cities within Jiangyang. How could they let me have such a large city like Yuzhou?"
"Foolish!" Chu Yangtian couldn't help but slam the table, saying with disappointment, "When internal problems urgently need to be resolved, you are still relying on others? It's no longer a time when you can only act if others permit you. If you don't expand your territory, where will you get enough jobs to arrange manpower? If you don't solve the problem of idle people, how can the situation be stable? This is not a matter of whether you are willing, but something you must do!"
The meaning was clear: without change, they would surely perish, and the change was simple: expand their territory.
At this moment, Chu Yangtian became agitated and coughed repeatedly, his frail body trembling.
Chang Jianyi quickly went to pat Professor Chu's back to help him catch his breath and explained, "Professor, please don't get excited. Even if we want to retake Yuzhou, we don't have the capability. First of all, there's the food problem. We barely have enough to last until next year's planting, which is not enough to support large-scale operations! Furthermore, Yuzhou is already a dead city with blocked sewers and rampant plagues. Even if we get Yuzhou, without medicine, we won't be able to withstand the plague."
Indeed, retaking Yuzhou presented significant difficulties for Shen Feng. With insufficient food and medicine, retaking Yuzhou was impossible!
Chu Yangtian, having recovered, said, "I know there are many problems, but if we don't change now, it's a dead end. Only by obtaining Yuzhou can we have a way out! Difficulties can be solved, but the crisis of survival is right before your eyes. You must see this!"
Shen Feng suddenly thought of something and quickly asked, "But we don't have to go to Yuzhou to expand our territory. We can go upstream! Cities like Gangcheng are also large cities, and many cities in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River have not yet been retaken."
Chu Yangtian shook his head slightly, found a piece of paper and a pen, and began to draw, briefly describing the geographical situation around Yuzhou, then said, "Why go far when it's near? Jiangyang is only half a day's journey from Yuzhou, and there are many people from Yuzhou in the city who can clearly help. Moreover, if you observe carefully, Yuzhou is the gateway to the southwest! Once it's in our hands, there will be immense benefits in the future!"
Shen Feng frowned and looked at the location of Yuzhou, suddenly understanding. The geographical location of Yuzhou city was extremely important. The transportation arteries of the three southwestern provinces all passed through here. Moreover, to the east was the Jingxiang region, to the north was Guanzhong, and to the northeast was the Central Plains. Such a geographical location was simply too good!
Chu Yangtian continued, "Jiangyang is still too small to accommodate too many people, but Yuzhou is different. As long as we can retake it, we can get food supplies from the east and west, acquire non-ferrous metals from the southwest, and have coal and medicinal materials from the south, not to mention the natural barrier of the Yangtze River. From then on, we will control the shipping in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. At that time, we can advance to attack zombies from all directions, or retreat to defend the southwest gateway. Isn't this worth retaking?"
Hearing this description, Shen Feng was immediately moved. Men always had a dream of conquering the world, and now the old professor had laid out the strategy before him. All that was needed was his nod, and they could act immediately.
Then Shen Feng looked at Chang Jianyi and asked, "Senior sister, what do you think?"
Chang Jianyi frowned, her expression troubled. "Food can be solved. I can use my abilities to ripen a batch of grain, but we really don't have enough medicine. Yuzhou is such a large city, and cleaning it up is not an easy task. Moreover, if headquarters finds out, they will likely object."
Chu Yangtian continued, "The greater the risk, the greater the reward! If you fear difficulties and don't act, you may not have such an opportunity in the future."
Shen Feng gritted his teeth and said, "Then let's do it! I'll answer for headquarters. As for medicine and other things, we can only take it one step at a time! We'll convene everyone for a discussion tonight. Let the timid starve and the bold get rich. If we don't take risks, we really can't solve the problem!"
After hearing the professor's description, Shen Feng now understood. It was better to take a risk than to be timid. Yuzhou was certainly important, so even though it was riddled with plague, they had to retake it. As for headquarters' thoughts, he no longer cared.
Chang Jianyi looked at Shen Feng's serious profile and realized that her junior classmate had also changed. If it were the past, he would definitely not have such great ambition. Perhaps his wish was just to stay at home playing games or watching anime every day. But now, with the advent of the apocalypse, his ambition had gradually surfaced.
"Are men this crazy?" Chang Jianyi thought to herself.
As for Shen Feng, he recalled his experience in Rongcheng. He had gone there as reinforcements but was not taken seriously. They were casually assigned a piece of land to station. Why was he treated like this? Of course, it was because he was not strong enough, so others looked down on him. Now, Shen Feng had decided to become stronger!